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Grand Chess Tour press release
By IM Kostya Kavutskiy
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took the sole lead after the first day of blitz, thanks to a fantastic 7/9 performance to give him a total score of 17/27. Trailing with 15 points each are Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, with nine more games of blitz to be played tomorrow.
After a solid performance in the rapid MVL started the day with a win over Liem, before losing his first game of the event at the hands of Nepomniachtchi. From there the French No. 2 uncorked three straight wins against Firouzja, Giri, and Robson before scoring wins against So and Sevian to close out the day.
MVL-So: After 33.Ne5!! White leaves the queen en prise due to the threat of Nef7# — MVL went on to keep the initiative and convert the game
Sevian-MVL: After 35...Bxh4!, Black won the game due to the threat of g6-g5 mate
An incredible day for MVL, who seized a clear lead in the tournament | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
Finishing in a current tie for second were Caruana and Nepomniachtchi, with Caruana losing a key game in round 14 where he over-pressed against Nepo. But he would then bounce back with wins over Firouzja and Giri.
In particular, the win over Firouzja was exciting — after a successful Nxg5 sacrifice in the Italian, Caruana misplayed things and was in danger of losing, but a last-ditch Hail Mary attempt at Firouzja's king ended up provoking a key blunder:
Caruana-Firouzja: After 25.Rf6! with seconds on his clock, Firouzja wasn't able to find a suitable defense, and quickly went down after 25...Rh7 26.Rfxg6+
Caruana had an up and down day, with lots of turnarounds | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
Nepo's day was the most volatile of all, as he started off with wins against Robson and MVL before dropping a game to So, followed by winning four straight games against Sevian, Caruana, Liem, and Xiong before finishing the day with losses to Firouzja and Giri.
Nepo-Caruana: After 25…Rxf3! Black won a pawn due to the idea of 26.Rxf3 Rxf3 27.Kxf3 Nd4+, but Nepo managed to later turn things around
No draws for Nepo, who won most of his games in technical fashion | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
Tomorrow the players will play another nine rounds of blitz, with the colors reversed, to determine the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz champion.
